Skin and soft tissue infections: development of a collaborative management plan between community and hospital care.

The commonest indication in the US for referral to an outpatient/home i.v. antibiotic therapy programme is the management of skin and soft tissue infections. In the UK, however, these infections account for 10% or more of admissions to infection units. The main indication for hospitalisation is to receive parenteral antibiotics. A retrospective audit of one year of admissions to a regional infection unit revealed that, although most of these patients do not progress to complications ('low risk'), they occupy a mean time of five days in hospital and for nearly half of that time they receive parenteral antibiotics. This period in hospital reflected 11.4% of the unit's bed occupancy. Even if 75% of these patients were treated in the community with parenteral therapy, this would result in bed savings of 8.55%, nearly one-tenth of the unit's occupied capacity. This type of audit should help key decision makers thinking of developing similar services in their region. Outpatient or home parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OHPAT) should be delivered as part of a complete disease management programme in collaboration with primary care.